May 03, 2004 04:42 PM
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(Updated May 03, 2004 04:42 PM)
Recently I decided to buy a scanner for my personal/home use. As a habit I did a lot of looking around and came across a few factors that need to be looked into while making a choice.
The first thing to do is understand the purpose behind buying the scanner. This helps sort out a lot of confusion as the feature set you ought to look for gets clarified. If, like me, one wants a scanner for generally scanning a few pictures from books etc. for use in preparing school projects(for kids) and for storing photographs to memory etc. the features to look for are:
A lid that can lift in a manner so as to accommodate thick books(Canon - Z-Lid), a moderate resolution. Speed need not be high. The other interesting feature to look for is an adaptor for scanning developed films(negatives) and transparancies. Many of us might have old black & white films from yesteryears. It is generally very expensive to have prints developed from these films. These kind of adaptors are available with some models for about Rs.3000. The use of such an adaptor can help you scan in old negatives in positive format. These can be stored/viewed like any pic files from a PC.
It is much better to buy a scanner that has a USB 2 connectivity since this aids in faster transfer of scanned images to the PC. The scanning technology ought to be CCD(a newer tech).
Having said all this, often enough the issues may arise from the PC end rather than the scanner. It is important to have sufficient hard disk memory(a HDD with 7200 rpm speed is better too) as well as RAM(256 at least) for effective use of a scanner.
Avoid frustrations and study these details in advance - before buying a scanner. As regards brands - I like to believe that Canon has been in the optics and imaging business longer than many other players in this segment. That ought to count for something? I like the LiDE series from Canon.
